Roscoe Tanner technique overlooked: "Not a servebot"

[Connors109]

Not going to discuss his moral shortcomings, but his unique technique. Tanner was not 6'4" or even 6'2" he was a six footer that could hit 150 mph serves and held
the fastest serve recorded until Roddick came along. Why do I say his technique is unique ? Well for starters there is no obvious look up the pipe full toss arm extension like today's players. His toss arm after ball release, while classic at eye level is rather shallow and the toss itself is the shortest I've ever seen in a Pro player. They say he hit his ball while the toss was still rising. Vic Braden proved he actually hit it at the apex, but his swing had such efficient acceleration and velocity that his racquet head speed exploded upon impact. His leg drive and jump from a pin point stance passes even as contemporary today is NOT a "Ben Shelton" deep knee bend thrust and is easily almost missed. Last his front toss shoulder to racquet shoulder angle for the trophy cartwheel effect also seems rather shallow . In fact his serve does not appear that it should generate all this velocity but he did. With all due respect to extremely tall players he had little benefit from his height. Your thoughts?

 

[Connors109]

 

[jrepac]

funny you mention this....I always remember how short his toss was...so different from most other players. I used to compare his serve vs. Curren's, who also accelerated quickly, but even his toss was a bit higher. Sort of flies in the face of "modern" instruction re: needing arm extension, higher toss, etc., etc.

 

[sandy mayer]

Pancho Gonzales once described Roscoe Tanner's serve technique as nearly perfect. His timing was unreal. I think you will find most players hit the serve when the ball is falling. Tanner was pretty unusual in hitting the ball at the apex, which gave more power. His racket acceleration was very fast. Kevin Curren once said that Tanner had a bigger build than him. Tanner was a strong guy even if he wasn't that tall, which helped his serve.

 

[mental midget]

Pancho Gonzales once described Roscoe Tanner's serve technique as nearly perfect. His timing was unreal. I think you will find most players hit the serve when the ball is falling. Tanner was pretty unusual in hitting the ball at the apex, which gave more power. His racket acceleration was very fast. Kevin Curren once said that Tanner had a bigger build than him. Tanner was a strong guy even if he wasn't that tall, which helped his serve.

bet tanner would have been a great baseball player...probably a cannon for an arm and no doubt could hit the long ball.

 

[GuyForget]

great shell suit